![\"My](\"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/694088961ed871ac7bde459c_Duncan%20at%20the%20Webflow%20Desk.jpg?w=1200&q=80\")
Bernie Sanders’ interview of Claude is striking. The focus on privacy and business models has substance. But, rhetorically, Bernie asked leading questions, Claude gave confident synthesis, and Bernie treated that synthesis as evidence. Also, Claude folded really fast, declaring Bernie “absolutely right” on a data center moratorium. I’d love to see the system prompt given to Claude before the interview.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3AtWdeu_G0
", "date_published": "2026-03-20T19:03:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/free-range-agents", "title": "Free range agents", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/free-range-agents", "external_url": "https://blog.firetiger.com/free-range-agentic-parenting-if-you-love-your-agents-set-them-free/", "content_html": "The hardest part of agentic computing might not be in making agents smart, but deciding what to do when they’re smarter than you expected. Leon Garcia-Camargo at Firetiger writes that the answer they came up with isn’t to put them into a straitjacket or to give in to total anarchy, but to build fences and let agents roam. The goal is to constrain what users experience, not how agents work internally.
Link: https://blog.firetiger.com/free-range-agentic-parenting-if-you-love-your-agents-set-them-free/
", "date_published": "2026-03-07T08:34:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/current-and-the-phantom-obligation", "title": "Current and the phantom obligation", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/current-and-the-phantom-obligation", "external_url": "https://www.terrygodier.com/current", "content_html": "Terry Godier challenged a pragmatic choice made by Brent Simmons in 2002 that defined RSS readers as an Inbox where you are always behind. His new app, Current, replaces the inbox with a river. Articles arrive, linger for a bit, and then fade. No counts, no backlog, no score. Just reading. I’m definitely going to give it a try.
Link: https://www.terrygodier.com/current
", "date_published": "2026-03-01T12:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/lattner-on-claudes-c-compiler", "title": "Lattner on Claude’s C Compiler", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/lattner-on-claudes-c-compiler", "external_url": "https://www.modular.com/blog/the-claude-c-compiler-what-it-reveals-about-the-future-of-software", "content_html": "Chris Lattner dug into Claude’s C Compiler and found a competent textbook implementation that implements decades of compiler consensus. The takeaway from his post isn’t that AI can build compilers, but that AI amplifies structure that humans provide. Well-documented systems become dramatically easier to extend. The corollary is that undocumented ones scale into chaos faster than ever.
Link: https://www.modular.com/blog/the-claude-c-compiler-what-it-reveals-about-the-future-of-software
", "date_published": "2026-02-22T12:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/minions", "title": "Minions", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/minions", "external_url": "https://stripe.dev/blog/minions-stripes-one-shot-end-to-end-coding-agents", "content_html": "Stripe’s coding agents, affectionately called Minions, complete over 1,000 PRs per week unattended. The most interesting detail for me is that the agents run in the same developer environment as human engineers. If the tooling is good for humans, it’s good for agents. This is the same basic lesson as OpenAI’s recent harness engineering post, but proven in a brownfield instead of a codebase built from scratch.
Link: https://stripe.dev/blog/minions-stripes-one-shot-end-to-end-coding-agents
", "date_published": "2026-02-17T12:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/ai-doesnt-reduce-work", "title": "AI doesn’t reduce work", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/ai-doesnt-reduce-work", "external_url": "https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-it", "content_html": "The current conversation is all about how to get more employees to use AI, but what happens when they do? An eight-month study found that AI didn’t lighten workloads , it intensified them. Workers moved faster, took on broader scope, and worked longer hours, all voluntarily. The kicker: engineers spent more time reviewing “vibe-coded” work from colleagues who’d never written code before. Without intention, AI makes it easier to do more but harder to stop.
Link: https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-it
", "date_published": "2026-02-17T12:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/harness-engineering", "title": "Harness engineering", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/harness-engineering", "external_url": "https://openai.com/index/harness-engineering/", "content_html": "OpenAI has put a name on something many teams are discovering: when agents write the code, the engineer’s job becomes designing the environment. This post introduces “harness engineering” as the discipline of building feedback loops, constraints, and knowledge structures that help agents create good code. One key insight: give agents a map, not a manual. This post is an important marker in how we code with agents.
Link: https://openai.com/index/harness-engineering/
", "date_published": "2026-02-13T12:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/webflow-meets-claude", "title": "Webflow meets Claude", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/webflow-meets-claude", "external_url": "https://webflow.com/blog/webflow-claude-connector", "content_html": "Webflow is now an official connector in Claude. You can ask Claude to manage CMS content, create styles and variables, run SEO audits, and apply changes directly to your site. I’ve been using it to manage my own site, including this post! I have to say that there’s something delightfully meta about posting about the Claude connector using the Claude connector.
Link: https://webflow.com/blog/webflow-claude-connector
", "date_published": "2026-02-09T12:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/together-we-are-america", "title": "Together we are America", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/together-we-are-america", "external_url": "https://youtu.be/G6FuWd4wNd8", "content_html": "Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show was 13 minutes of pure joy and defiance. Palm trees, sugar cane, a pink casita, Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, Pedro Pascal — all in service of a message spiked into the turf on a football: “Together, we are America.” And on the screens: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” So good. I loved it.
Link: https://youtu.be/G6FuWd4wNd8
", "date_published": "2026-02-09T10:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/link/ichiban-motorcycle", "title": "Ichiban motorcycle", "url": "https://duncan.dev/link/ichiban-motorcycle", "external_url": "https://www.ichiban.bike/", "content_html": "If I trusted myself to ride a motorcycle, the Ichiban is the one I’d want to get. It’s a Japanese-inspired electric bike designed around Kanso — simplicity with purpose. Dual electric motors hit 0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds with 250 km range, a “Godzilla mode” for ten seconds of full power, and a design right out of Akira with maybe a mix of Tron. Still pre-production, but stunning.
Link: https://www.ichiban.bike/
", "date_published": "2026-02-05T10:04:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/joining-webflow", "title": "My next chapter: Webflow", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/joining-webflow", "image": "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/694088961ed871ac7bde459c_Duncan%20at%20the%20Webflow%20Desk.jpg?w=800&q=80", "summary": "After a six-month sabbatical for rest, reflection, and thinking deeply about the kind of work I want to do next, I’m stepping into a new role as SVP of Platform Engineering at Webflow. It’s a new role at the company, one that brings so much of what I’ve spent the last three decades working on: the web, server infrastructure, and developer tools.", "content_html": "
After a very rewarding six-month sabbatical filled with family time, relaxation, introspection, and thinking deeply about the kind of work I want to do moving forward, I’m excited to share what’s next.
Today, I’m starting a new job as Senior Vice President of Platform Engineering at Webflow. It’s a new role at the company, one that brings so much of what I’ve spent the last three decades working on: the web, server infrastructure, and developer tools.
Starting any big new job requires homework, so over the last few weeks I’ve been digging in, making my way through Webflow University courses and even porting this website to Webflow. All of this has shown me how impressive the product is — and how much potential it has.
Starting in mid-December will make my first 90 days in the role different from any I’ve had before. It’s a reflective time of year, and I’m hoping that carries into my conversations as I get up to speed, learn the team, and understand where I can make the most impact.
Finally, to paraphrase Ferris Bueller, taking a sabbatical is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend taking one. Mine gave me perspective and a renewed excitement for going into my next job.
", "date_published": "2025-12-15T22:13:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/beyond-disagree-and-commit", "title": "Beyond disagree and commit", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/beyond-disagree-and-commit", "summary": "Just saying “disagree and commit” gets you compliance, but doesn’t necessarily lead to understanding. When you're in a disagreement, one of three things has to be true: you're wrong, they're wrong, or you're both wrong and have to find a better answer. Starting from that premise changes everything and prompts you to get curious before you commit—and to stay curious even after decisions are made.", "content_html": "Disagreements are natural. Most of us aren’t born naturals at handling them. It’s easy to slip into treating them as arguments that have to be won. In the heat of the moment, I can be as guilty as anyone at this.
The pithy Amazon value of “disagree and commit” provides an action to follow if you’re in the position of having to accept a disagreement, but it can be very transactional. At its worst, it comes across as a leader saying “just shut up and do the work already.” The result is compliance, but it doesn’t promote understanding.
We can do better.
Here's the mental model I've been working to internalize over the last decade or so. It became especially clear in my work as a Technical Advisor to the CEO at Shopify, where my job required me to both challenge decisions others made and to execute ones that I didn’t agree with.
When faced with a disagreement, I start by reminding myself that one of three things has to be true:
This framework is a prompt for curiosity: What frame of reference does the other person have that helps them see things that you can’t? What assumptions are you making? What else do you really need to know in order to make the decision, or to let somebody else make the decision? Asking these questions changes the game from zero-sum to positive-sum—from capitulation to understanding.
Just because the framework is straightforward doesn’t mean it’s easy to apply. If case 1 is true, it takes real awareness and a lot of patience to step back and listen when it’d be easier to just push forward. In case 2, it’s hard not to feel like the other person is just being dense, but if they don’t understand that’s on you. You can’t blame them for not getting it. But it’s case 3 that might be the toughest, and the most important. It forces you to accept that neither position is complete and a better idea is still out there.
What do you do when applying curiosity doesn’t resolve a disagreement in a reasonable timeframe? Or, when you need information that can only come from taking action? This is where this framework can fail. Staying curious too long can lead to analysis paralysis. It can also give cover to people who’d rather not commit to a position.
This is where a leader has to step up, be accountable, and make a call. It is where “disagree and commit” serves its purpose when applied well. It helps teams move forward in the face of disagreement.
Even then, this shouldn’t be the end of curiosity. The action that comes from a decision will create new information that lets you judge that decision and revise it if needed. A big part of the accountability of a leader is to be open to this and to adapt a decision or even change it wholesale if needed.
Disagreements are natural. Staying curious through them is a skill that takes lifelong work.
", "date_published": "2025-12-11T16:58:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/now-made-with-webflow", "title": "Now made with Webflow", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/now-made-with-webflow", "summary": "After thirty years of building and rebuilding my website with everything from Dreamweaver to Ruby on Rails to custom Markdown tooling, I've migrated to Webflow. It's part of reinvesting into my web presence as well as evaluating an opportunity I'll share soon. If your RSS reader suddenly shows all my posts as new, apologies—that's the migration. Welcome to the new site.", "content_html": "Thirty years ago, Netscape released Navigator 2.0 which brought JavaScript to the web. I had already been messing around with building websites for a year or so at that point, but it was the introduction of JavaScript on the browser that really pulled me in. I dove in to learning how to make dynamic navigation bars and a few other things. My work caught the notice of a web design firm in Dallas and launched my career on the web.
Since then, I’ve built and rebuilt my website dozens of times. I alternated between using tools like Dreamweaver and Movable Type (kudos if you remember those!) and building my own with Java, Ruby on Rails, Python, and more. Along the way, I lost my content database once and then purposefully deleted a bunch of content several times so that I could change the character of what I put online. I followed the rest of the online world into social media and put a bunch of energy into platforms like Twitter.
Later, I came to regret that. My website on my domain is where the hub of my life online has always been. And, I’ve started re-investing in it again. As part of that investment, I’ve migrated the tools I use to make the website, again. This time, I haven’t built another bespoke setup out of the latest programming language I’m playing with. This time, I’ve moved to Webflow.
It’s a big change. I’ve gone from a very custom hand-built system that takes a pile of Markdown files and transmutes them into a working site to a full-bore CMS-backed tool that has a very sophisticated visual editor. It’s kind of like going back to something that’s part Dreamweaver, part Movable Type, and whole lot of other things all modernized for 2025.
But why? I typically rebuild my website to dig into a new programming language, framework, or tool. This time is very similar. I have an opportunity to do something and I couldn’t say yes to that without exploring what Webflow could do. And, I found myself really liking the results, so I’m making the jump and moving on from my previous setup. If you’re reading this, you’re on the new site. Welcome!
What’s that opportunity, you ask? I’ll talk more about that in a few weeks.
Of course, with any website migration, there are always some bumps. URL paths shift. RSS feeds reset. I’ve done my best to keep these under control, but if your feed reader suddenly decides that everything on my site is new again, I apologize. If you see something amiss, let me know. Or, if you like what you see, I also want to know. Please get in touch!
", "date_published": "2025-12-05T15:04:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/rick-lepage-and-hudson-henry-in-glasgow", "title": "Rick and Hudson in Glasgow", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/rick-lepage-and-hudson-henry-in-glasgow", "image": "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/693204e52fcc7412fdb754bb_scotland-glasgow-20251026-00143.jpg?w=800&q=80", "summary": "On a recent trip to Scotland, I got to spend a day in Glasgow to go street shooting with Rick Lepage and Hudson Henry. My favorite photo of the day captures Rick and Hudson looking for their next shot on Sauchiehall Street while a delivery rider barrels between them. The delivery riders in Glasgow were absolutely relentless that day and we had several near misses before and after this moment.", "content_html": "![\"Rick](\"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/693204e52fcc7412fdb754bb_scotland-glasgow-20251026-00143.jpg?w=1200&q=80\")
On a recent trip to Scotland, I got to spend a day in Glasgow to go street shooting with my good friends Rick Lepage and Hudson Henry. They had just finished teaching a pair of workshops on the Isle of Skye.
My favorite photo of the day captures Rick and Hudson looking for their next shot on Sauchiehall Street while a delivery rider barrels between them. The delivery riders in Glasgow were absolutely relentless that day and we had several near misses before and after this moment. I really like that I caught my friends in the act of looking for their next shot, cameras ready.
", "date_published": "2025-11-08T22:01:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/isle-coffee-harris", "title": "Isle Coffee Harris", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/isle-coffee-harris", "image": "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/693200563d34501c17f127bf_scotland-harris-20251029-1003100.jpg?w=800&q=80", "summary": "You’d never imagine that you’d find a speciality coffee shop on the empty road between Tarbert and Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris. And certainly not in a vintage caravan housed alongside the wild moorland. But there is and it’s called Isle Coffee Harris and it’s reportedly quite good,", "content_html": "![\"Isle](\"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/693200563d34501c17f127bf_scotland-harris-20251029-1003100.jpg?w=1200&q=80\")
You’d never imagine that you’d find a speciality coffee shop on the empty road between Tarbert and Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris. And certainly not in a vintage caravan housed alongside the wild moorland. But there is and it’s called Isle Coffee Harris. It’s reportedly quite good, and some days you can even get a cinnamon swirl with your cortado. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to sample it ourselves, as we drove by either too early or too late.
Next time, for sure.
", "date_published": "2025-11-03T21:41:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/lingerbay", "title": "Lingerbay", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/lingerbay", "image": "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/6931ff1d0c37fbdba4f8a0bf_scotland-harris-20251028-17.jpg?w=800&q=80", "summary": "Fly to Glasgow, drive north through Inverness to Ullapool, ferry to Stornoway, then navigate increasingly vague directions to find a small white house by slate-blue water. At 58ºN, it's remote and quiet—moody weather, barely-there 4G, turquoise water appearing through grey skies. The perfect setting for photography, whiskey, and unhurried conversation about composition and seeing.", "content_html": "![\"Lingerbay\"](\"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/6931ff1d0c37fbdba4f8a0bf_scotland-harris-20251028-17.jpg?w=1200&q=80\")
Take a flight to Glasgow. Join a friend who has a friend with a car. Drive north through Inverness to Ullapool to catch the ferry to Stornoway. Once you’re across the water, drive to Tarbert and then follow a set of semi-complete directions past the post office. Keep going up by the recycling center and then look for a really small sign next to a turn off to a gravel track road. Follow the road down to a little white house by the edge of slate-blue water that’s so much clearer than you’d expect. That’s how I got to Lingerbay on the Isle of Harris in Scotland.
It’s quiet here. At 58ºN, it’s not the furthest north I’ve ever been, but it’s the furthest north I’ve been in Great Britain. Things move slow. It’s chilly, and moody, but somehow lovely all the same. The weather changes its mind a lot. At times, it feels grey, and then you notice turquoise in the water and golden in the moorland. There’s very slow 4G service which keeps us just connected enough to the world, and no more.
We’re here to make pictures, talk photography as much as we can, and have a bit of whiskey while we’re at it. Politics keeps coming up, and we indulge it for a bit, and then shove the topic aside in favor of talk of composition, seeing, and being somewhere for a bit without the need to rush.
", "date_published": "2025-10-28T21:37:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/the-future-of-ted", "title": "The future of TED", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/the-future-of-ted", "image": "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/6931fd4b9258b336ae887ede_chris-anderson-ted-2014-03-21.jpg?w=800&q=80", "summary": "Chris Anderson’s search for TED’s new leadership concluded, naming Sal Khan as Vision Steward and Logan Stokes as CEO. Despite fears of a sellout, TED remains nonprofit. As a former TED photographer (2009-2016), I'm cautiously optimistic — TED has felt stagnant lately, but Sal and Logan have the vision to reinvigorate it if they're bold enough.", "content_html": "![\"The](\"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/6931fd4b9258b336ae887ede_chris-anderson-ted-2014-03-21.jpg?w=1200&q=80\")
Nine months ago, Chris Anderson kicked off a Willy Wonka-esque search for renewing the leadership of TED. At the time, I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical. Maybe it was a fear of the unknown. More likely, a fear that whoever Chris sold TED to would be someone or something that would take TED into a bad direction.
I was also a bit intrigued because this opened up a possibility space for an organization that I invested a lot of sweat equity into from 2009-2016 as a main stage photographer. Lately, TED has felt like it’s stagnating and playing it too safe in its current formula. A little too comfortable with the glossy talks. A desire to be brave with controversial talks, but a bit too cautious of offending someone on either side of the political spectrum.
Therefore, I was nervous — as were many people — to listen in to yesterday’s announcement of the result of the process. I was very relieved to hear that despite the chance to sell out or to transform TED into a for-profit endeavor, Chris doubled-down on the idea that TED meant something and should to be preserved. In the blog post of the announcement, Chris says:
But for me — and for everyone on TED’s leadership team — the answers weren’t just about capital or scale. They were about stewardship, values, and a shared belief in giving ideas away, trusting community, preserving independence, and amplifying human possibility.
When Chris then announced that Sal Khan would be taking the position of Vision Steward, I was initially surprised, and then a mixture of relieved and intrigued. Vision Steward is certainly an interesting title, but it’s clear that Sal is Chris’ replacement as the person who curates and shapes TED’s direction. Sal has done amazing work with Khan Academy and I think he can help TED a lot in this new role and bring a very fresh perspective.
I was also excited to see Logan’s appointment to CEO. I first met Logan at the very first TED I photographed in Long Beach in 2009, and I’ve been a fan of hers since the day I met her. She was so full of potential then and has certainly become a powerhouse now. Her recent work at both the Obama Foundation and with TED Countdown has been amazing to see. And while these are fairly left-leaning credentials these days, she also worked for almost three years at Palantir, which is quite the counter balance.
Look, every change is risky. And I know that there are people in the wider TED community that were underwhelmed by the news. Maybe they were seriously hoping that a firebrand billionaire like Elon Musk would do something like merge TED with what’s left of Twitter. Or maybe they were hoping for a buyer that would move it away from the United States and the current political turbulence there to a safe haven where it couldn’t be repressed into insignificance. Maybe they’re right, and this won’t be enough to revitalize TED. Maybe TED is from a different moment in time that can’t make the jump to the new normal.
I don’t know. We’ll have to see. What I do know is that I have a huge amount of trust in the worldview of both Sal and Logan. If they are truly unshackled and ambitious — and maybe even are more than a bit audacious in really tweaking the formula and running further into the controversial and meaty topics that we need to make progress on both in the United States and in the world at large — and they succeed in reinventing TED, then it’ll be a TED that I will be excited to see in the world again. I hope that’s a TED that can help pull us back from the toxic negative-sum discourse we are drowning in and into a positive-sum discourse that will help us face the future that’s quickly coming, as uncomfortable as it is.
", "date_published": "2025-10-16T12:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/oakland-city-hall-sunrise", "title": "Oakland City Hall at sunrise", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/oakland-city-hall-sunrise", "image": "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/6931fe52bc34503d111aa8f1_oakland-city-hall-sunrise.jpg?w=800&q=80", "summary": "During a Bay Area trip, I stayed in Oakland to avoid pricey San Francisco hotels and enjoyed an early morning view of Oakland's City Hall — a 1914 Beaux-Arts landmark with a distinctive clock tower. Jet-lagged and awake before dawn, I captured the scene bathed in golden sunrise light using Sony's new RX1R III camera.", "content_html": "![\"Oakland](\"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/6931fe52bc34503d111aa8f1_oakland-city-hall-sunrise.jpg?w=1200&q=80\")
A few months ago, I found myself in the Bay Area for a quick overnight and hotel rooms in San Francisco were outrageously priced. So, I stayed across the bay in a room with a front-row view of Oakland’s City Hall with its distinctive clock tower. Completed in 1914, it’s a beautiful example of American Beaux-Arts architecture and stands in contrast to the more modern buildings around it.
I was jet-lagged and up before dawn, so I was able to enjoy the view from my window as the sun rose over the East Bay hills and bathed the scene in a hazy golden light. This is one of the first frames I captured with the recently released and somewhat controversial Sony RX1R III. I don’t have a judgment yet myself, other than it’s really nice to shoot with that lovely 35mm lens again. It’s a focal length that just agrees with the way I see the world.
", "date_published": "2025-10-15T20:33:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/summer-funemployment", "title": "Summer funemployment", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/summer-funemployment", "summary": "Since finishing up at Shopify in June, I’ve been taking it easy. It’s the first time in a decade that I’ve had this much time off and it’s been pretty great. The days have been full of family with travel to the beach and mountains. And, there’s been a lot of time lounging by the sea, an iced coffee in hand. Along the way, I found some inspiration from an unexpected source: the band Linkin Park.", "content_html": "Since finishing up at Shopify in June, I’ve been taking it pretty easy. It’s the first time in a decade that I’ve taken this much time away from a job and, honestly, it’s been pretty great. The days have been full of family, travel to the beach and mountains, and a lot of time lounging by a pool or the sea, iced coffee in hand.
Pretty ideal, really. Except for that week mid-summer where my son had Covid. And then another week later in the summer where I caught it myself. But those were just speed bumps in the scheme of things. A few plans had to be changed, but the overall scope of the summer remained the same.
My primary goal this summer, besides spending time with my family, was reflecting over the last 10 years, deciding what lessons I want to carry forward from that time, and thinking about how they shape my goals for the next 10.
Do I have any answers yet? Vague outlines, maybe.
I found a hint in an unexpected source: the story of how Linkin Park reformed late last year. After running into some videos about their new music, I tracked down all the interviews I could find with Mike Shinoda telling the story of how the band had effectively dispersed after Chester Bennington died. Then a few years ago, some of the members started getting together to just be creative again.
They didn’t set out to bring back Linkin Park, but the work that took them there was guided by friendship and creativity rather than business decisions. More so, in the interviews, you can see how Shinoda is an amazing leader — putting his imprint on everything, to be sure, but also making room for everyone else to put theirs.
It’s the kind of work environment that I want to be part of, or even make. One where leadership means both shaping a vision and creating space for others to contribute their best. Intentional positive-sum creativity that leads to something interesting. It aligns with what Rick Rubin wrote in The Creative Act:
The recognition of abundance fills us with hope that our brightest ideas still await us and our greatest work is yet to come.
As summer starts to fade, I’m off to play in abundance and see what I find.
", "date_published": "2025-09-04T16:21:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://duncan.dev/post/serifos-2025", "title": "Serifos Chora", "url": "https://duncan.dev/post/serifos-2025", "image": "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/68d177846dfcd89110bbb3e9_serifos-chora.jpg?w=800&q=80", "summary": "Nestled in the western Cyclades, Serifos offers a quieter, more authentic Greek island experience than its famous counterparts like Mykonos and Santorini. You can only get there by boat from either neighboring islands or direct from Athens. This helps keep it a more mellow destination than islands with an airport. I’d say wish you were here, but please only a few of you at a time.", "content_html": "![\"Serifos](\"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68d008f83f158f07fb8be9ef/68d177846dfcd89110bbb3e9_serifos-chora.jpg?w=1200&q=80\")
Nestled in the western Cyclades, Serifos offers a quieter, more authentic Greek island experience than its famous counterparts like Mykonos and Santorini. You can only get there by boat from either neighboring islands or direct from Athens. This helps keep it a more mellow destination than islands with an airport.
This quieter pace is exactly what my family and I wanted for the week we just spent there. We stayed at a low-key hotel right on the beach where we could sleep hearing the sound of the waves lapping on the beach. We would wake up, walk 20 meters to the cafe to get a coffee, and then go right onto the sand to hang out under a line of trees planted right next to crystal clear water. Then, later we’d go up to the Chora high above the sea for stunning evening views and lovely food.
I’d say wish you were here, but please only a few of you at a time. We gotta keep the vibe right. 🤣
", "date_published": "2025-06-29T16:21:00.000Z" } ] }